Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Mama’s Boy’ on HBO Max, the Truly Inspiring Story of Dustin Lance Black and His Mother, Anne Bisch

Mama’s Boy (now on HBO Max) is a documentary adaptation of Dustin Lance Black’s memoir, Mama’s Boy: A Story From Our Americas, which details how his relationship with his mother fueled his success as a filmmaker and activist. You’ll recognize Black as the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk, the biopic about gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk; he subsequently used his notoriety to help overturn Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California. His film and TV work frequently ties to his personal life – growing up in the Mormon church surely informed his work as a writer for Big Love and creator of Under the Banner of Heaven – and with this documentary, he shares himself like never before.

MAMA’S BOY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: We open on Black’s biggest moment, in 2009, when he accepted his screenplay Oscar and promised to help make same-sex marriage legal on a federal level. That was a huge promise – and his mother made him stick to it. His mother. Black tells us all about her. She was born Roseanna, but would later be known as Rose and Anna and eventually, at last by her own choosing, Anne. She was one of a mess of siblings growing up in a shack in poverty-stricken Providence, Louisiana. At age two, she contracted polio and spent the next 13 years in children’s hospitals, at one point getting metal rods surgically inserted up and down her back to straighten her spine. She was told that no one would want to marry her, that having children would be extremely difficult, that she should stay in a wheelchair and collect her disability checks for the rest of her life.

Anne did none of this. She walked with braces and crutches. She joined the Mormon church where she met and married a man. They had three children, all boys. Never once does Black call this man “Dad” – he was accused of marrying a disabled woman to escape being drafted to fight in Vietnam, and eventually abandoned the family while having an affair with his first cousin. The church fixed her up with a second husband who ended up being an abusive lout with homicidal tendencies, something church leaders knew about but kept quiet. His departure was a blessing. Anne was forced to work, eventually beginning a career as a medical technologist. She married a third time, and we breathe a sigh of relief when we meet him, Jeff Bisch. He wouldn’t be interviewed for this documentary if he wasn’t a kind, loving man, to Anne and her three sons.

Point being, Anne is an inspiration to anybody watching this, her story, told vividly by Black. But imagine being her son, and knowing her story, and understanding that she was a woman of extraordinary strength and character – and her holding you to a promise you made on stage at the Academy Awards. There’s no turning back on that one. Black fought and fought for the right for LGBTQ people to marry; we see him giving impassioned speeches that bely his usual softspoken, introverted demeanor. Funny thing is, years prior to that, Anne sat on the other side of the ideological fence – the church didn’t accept gays, so neither did she. But this is where the strength of character took over, because, Black says, she no longer sermonized, but listened, to her son and his friends and members of the LGBTQ community, heard their stories. And she changed. Softened. Accepted. Then Black’s brother came out as gay. And Black went to the Supreme Court, which would soon rule that he had the right to marry another man.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Along with a Milk rewatch, an apt accompanying piece for Mama’s Boy is 8, a TV movie capturing a live stage performance of a Black-scripted dramatization of the federal trial to overturn Proposition 8.

Performance Worth Watching: Black and several of his family members show admirable openness and bravely while recounting some incredibly traumatic experiences from their lives.

Memorable Dialogue: One of the last things Anne said to Black before she died: “Fight for my life.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Black did not direct Mama’s Boy – that credit goes to Laurent Bouzereau – but the documentary is absolutely guided by his voice and point-of-view. Tonally, it’s like a melodrama, with tearful exhortations, a swelling musical score and Black’s heavy-duty narration, some of which feels like passages lifted from his book. But it’s never indulgent or overly self-involved, thanks to Black using his mother as a guiding narrative thread. Her story is remarkable, and deserves to have a film made about it. Black may be the voice of this piece, but he’s ultimately content to be in the shadow of a woman with flaws, sure, but also a foundation of vigor and compassion.

But, one might argue, isn’t Anne an exception to the rule? The rare person willing to set aside ego and let love dictate her worldview? Perhaps, but she doesn’t have to be. That’s the subtext of Black’s narrative, which is powerful in its message and engrossing in its presentation. Sometimes, the documentary seems incomplete – it seems disinterested in how Black worked from film school to Oscar winner, and doesn’t address whether Anne’s relationship with the Mormon church changed in the wake of coming out and activism.

There’s one point when Black describes the divide between himself and his mother thusly: “Her America: Faithful, Southern, red. And me in California – blue, progressive and queer.” Their story underscores that it’s possible to bridge that divide. Black doesn’t want to point fingers at institutions of power; he proudly shares how he managed to arrange a sit-down with Mormon church leaders, an attempt to break a barrier rather than lob grenades. Black’s an idealist stumping for unity, and in a world of deep political segregation, we need more voices like his.

Our Call: STREAM IT. As a portrait of Anne, a woman of great fortitude and complexity, Mama’s Boy is frequently rousing.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.